Aster. COMPOSITE. * 323 



§2. Perennials (?) with ((fives spinvlosely />iiin'i/in'</-toothed or incised (or sometimes 

 entire) : scales of the involucre with long-acuminate but not green tips : pappus 

 of comparatively few (20 i<> 3">) and very rigid bristles. (Transition to Town- 

 sendia.) — Megalastbum, Gray. 



5. A. tortifolius, Gray (not Michx.). At first loosely white-woolly, wheu old 

 somewhat roiighish-hirsute or glabrate, a foot or so high: brandies naked and 

 peduncle-like at summit, bearing a solitary very large head : leaves coriaceous, 

 rigid, often twisted, oblong or lanceolate, veiny, strongly dentate or incisely pinnat- 

 ifid with divaricate spinulose teeth : involucre hemispherical ; its very numerous 

 scales lanceolate-subulate and setaceous-acuminate, the outer a little shorter : rays 

 violet-purple, very numerous, an inch long : pappus becoming reddish. — Proc. Am. 

 Acad vii. 353. Aplopappus tortifolius, Torr. & Gray, in Lost. Jour. Nat. Hist. 



Mountains near the southeastern borders of California (Dr. Cooper) ; thence to S. Utah, Fre- 

 mont, ,Y. irhcn-ji, Mrs. T/iuoipstm. This and A. (Megalaslrum) Wrightii, Gray, form a remarkable 

 seetion of the genus, which might almost as well be referred to Toumsendia. Style-appendages 

 short, obtuse. Akenes (young) linear-oblong, silky-villous. Bristles of the pappus about 

 20 in a single series, strong, nattish, serrulate-scabrous, nearly equalling the disk-corolla, and a 

 few slender and shorter ones intermixed. 



§ 3. Perennials, with leaves merely serrate or entire. — Aster proper. 



* Pappus rath r rigid, some of the longer bristles thickened towards the summit : in- 

 volucre cn/ujiirnii/nte or turbinate; its scales very regularly imbricated in many 

 ranks, rigid, with short green or greenish tips, the outer successively shorter. 



G. A. radulinus. Gray. Roughish-puhescent throughout: stem rather stout, 

 imi' nr two feel high, branching above and bearing an open corymb of middle-sized 

 heads : leaves rigid and coriaceous, oblong, or the lower obovate-spatulate, sharply 

 serrate above, tapering below into a narrowed entire base, prominently reticulate- 

 veiny, scabrous both sides, the midrib very prominent beneath: peduncles short: 

 involucre obconical, i or 5 lines long; its scales rigid, appressed, lanceolate or ob- 

 long, obtuse or abruptly pointed or mucronate, more or less glandular-pubescent, 

 the tips mostly green: rays 15 to 18, white (perhaps not always so): akenes mi- 

 nutely pubescent. — Proc. Am. Acad. viii. 388. A. Radula, Less, in Linmva. vi. 

 12.") :' Durand A. llilgard PL Pratten., not of Ait. 



Dry open ground, Monterey to Mendocino Co. (thence to Oregon. E. TInH) : also in the Sierra 

 from Nevada Co. northward, Torrey, Lemmon. This is nearly related to A. ■ . Lindl., 



of the region much farther north, — a plant with larger heads and leaves, — while the smaller 



i 3 are more like .-i. - equally a northern spei 



* * Pappus softer and equable. 

 +■ Lmr and diffuse : branches leafy to the top and bearing small mostly single heads. 



7. A. Bloomeri, I Iray, 1. c. Cespitose, a span or less in height, minutely cine- 

 reous-hirsute, and near tin' heads so],,, -what glandular: branches ascending : leaves 

 oblong-linear or the lower spatulate, 3 to in lines long, obtuse, entire, very rough 

 both sides with the short minutely hispid pubescence, the uppermost passing into 

 scales of the involucre : these 25 to 30, linear, acute, glandular and greenish : rays 

 12 to 15, apparently purple, aboul 1 lines long: akenes minutely pubescent. 



Moist llais near Mount Davidson, NTei bly also within the State boundary), Bloomer, 



I vmon. Heads 4 lines long. 



-t- +- Stems erect and branching, leafy, bearing several or numerous commonly panicu- 

 late or racemosi heads: involucri imbricated, 



++ Its sabs many-ranked, close, and with short green tips. 



8. A. Menziesii, Lindl. Minutely hoary with a fine (either soft or scabrous) 

 pubescence, or glabrate below, n foot or two high : stem and branches virgate, rigid : 



